In this episode, I’m speaking with early universe cosmologist Islam Khan. We talk about inflation theory, the multiverse, dark matter, and so much more! Is there such a thing as a parallel universe? Do we know why the universe has stretched? What does a cosmologist do for fun?  (0:00:50) What does a Cosmologist do?  (0:01:48) Islam Khan's journey into studying cosmology (0:04:50) The Infinite Universe vs The Observable Universe  (0:06:30) The Milky Way in the cosmic web (0:07:50) The scale of the Observable Universe (0:09:30) Are we alone out here? The possibility of alien life (0:11:50) The Inflation Theory - our stretchy Universe (0:12:45) How do we know it stretched? (0:13:30) The painting analogy  (0:14:35) How the Inflation Theory explains these problems (0:15:52) Multiverses: a consequence of inflation. What are they? (0:16:32) Max Tegmark - defining the four levels (0:17:55) Level 1: Inflation fields, Quantum Fields and the Higgs Boson (0:19:24) Level 2: Bubbles of Universes  (0:20:02) Level 3: The Many Worlds Theory (0:22:10) Level 4: An Abstract view: Changing the laws of physics (0:23:30) Do doppelgangers actually exist?  (0:24:20) Wave Function Collapse - Schrödinger's cat and Hugh Everett's theory  (0:26:03) Are we just a simulation?  (0:27:25) What caused the inflation? The ball and the hill  (0:29:10) Reheating the Universe  (0:30:25) Unifying Inflation Theory and dark energy/dark matter (0:31:45) The Theory of Everything (0:32:45) The real world applications - answering the big questions (0:34:46) The second stretching phase - what's happening now (0:35:50) Einstein's Cosmological Constant (0:37:35) Accelerated Expansion and Earth (0:40:00) Particle Cosmology - not just math (0:41:15) The Philosophical side (0:42:38) The Anthropic Principle (0:43:25) Evidence over opinion - why we can't all get along  (0:44:45) Working together - you need more than Theorists to make a theory (0:46:25) Exciting advances in research today! Stepping on Mars! New particles and more! (0:49:15) Islam Khan's interests; soccer, guitar and travel (0:52:25) Science and the arts - is there a link? (0:54:15) Conversations and discussions - other fields of interest  (0:56:20) Research is the dream Follow Islam Khan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KhanCosmologist Islam Khan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/islam-khan-001915/ Visit Planet B612 on the web: http://planetb612.fm/ Follow Planet B612 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlanetB612fm Support Planet B612 on Patreon: https://patreon.com/juliesworld